Delco League: Wayne bounds back to dispatch Upper Darby

Wayne players storm the infield to celebrate with teammate Kyle Gillen after he hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning against Upper Darby to win the game, 4-3, Tuesday. Wayne will take on Middletown in the Delco League championship series. (Times staff / JULIA WILKINSON )

Upper Darby’s Desmond Drummond rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run off of Wayne pitcher Joe O’Malley Tuesday. Wayne came back in the bottom of the seventh inning to win the game and the series. (Times staff / JULIA WILKINSON)

RADNOR — For six innings Tuesday, Wayne looked like a team that had lost its mystique.

On the brink of elimination against an Upper Darby Blue Sox team dead-set on finally beating Wayne in a best-of-5 playoff series, manager Brian Fili could see his players starting to press. Poor at-bats, questionable fielding decisions, throwing errors. It all led to a three-run deficit going into the bottom of the seventh inning in the deciding Game 5 of the semifinal series.

Something had to change. There was no way Wayne could go out like this — shut out on its home field at Radnor High School.

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Some of the team’s younger players needed to show up in the seventh inning.

If Wayne wanted to pull off an epic comeback Tuesday night, it needed a huge effort from its 20-somethings, such as catcher Ted Seiler, shortstop Dan Williams, pitcher Jeff Courter and DH/outfielder Kyle Gillen.

Gillen dug in with runners on first and second base and two outs in the seventh inning, after Courter, a senior pitcher at Villanova, rapped a single to bring home John Cowell and Brian Giacobetti, who represented the tying run.

Gillen, a Johns Hopkins standout, delivered the game-winning hit off Upper Darby pitcher Adam Wheatley. Wayne rallied with four runs to take down the Blue Sox, 4-3.

And with that hit, Wayne announced that it was back.

Gillen was mobbed by teammates somewhere between first and second base. The Blue Sox gathered near home plate, watching this improbable celebration take place. Stunned.

Gillen, whose brother, Kevin, is an ex-Wayne player, called it one of the best baseball moments of his life. The St. Joseph’s Prep grad knew that Wheatley would have to throw something in his hot zone. Sure enough, Gillen got the one pitch he was looking for and shot it on a line to right field. Before right fielder Desmond Drummond could field the ball, Williams was rounding third and on his way home.

Prior to the at-bat, Gillen received some words of encouragement from Brady Schlack, a longtime Wayne player and coach who has been partially responsible for passing the torch on to guys like Gillen.

“He just told me to stay confident,” Gillen said. “This is how Wayne wins. We might be dead all game, but when it comes to the last inning, we’ll always get that one big hit.”

Fili moved Gillen down in the lineup thanks to the suggestion of former Delco League president Jim Vankoski Sr., whose son, Jim, played right field and batted seventh.

“He was batting two for us pretty much the whole year,” Fili said. “The suggestion from Mr. Vankoski was to move Gillen down in the lineup and give him the opportunity to drive in some runs, and move Matt Greskoff to the two-spot. That was the main switch we did.”

Seiler started the rally with a ringing double down the third-base line. Between innings, Seiler went over to Fili and asked if the manager had planned on replacing him with a pinch hitter. Seiler was 0-for-2 at that point.

“He’s been a bull for us all year long,” Fili said. “When (Kevin) Mohollen went down, he’s pretty much had to catch the whole year. I wanted him to go up there and swing, so he leads off with a double. I knew he’d come through.”

John Cowell was summoned off the bench to hit for nine-hole hitter Bryan Rubin after Seiler’s two-bagger, and promptly singled.

“I didn’t want to go the whole game without Johnny Cowell get the chance to bat,” Fili said. “He’s been a veteran here for a long time, so when he got a base hit it all worked out from there.”

With Mohollen as the courtesy runner for Seiler at third, and Cowell stationed at first, Giacobetti stepped in and worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases. Matt Greskoff hit a soft grounder to first for an RBI groundout.

And then something curious happened. Instead of facing Williams, Wayne’s No. 3 hitter, UD coach Dave Jerdon opted to go after Courter in the cleanup spot. Courter, who was batting fourth for the first time all season, had singled twice off Wheatley. He singled for a third time to drive in the second and third runs.

Joe O’Malley got the start on the mound for Wayne. He pitched three innings, and his only blemish was a two-run bomb off the bat of Drummond, who cleared the fence in left-center field. Courter pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to pick up the win.

Wheatley, a Ridley High product who plays college ball at Immaculata, was stellar through six innings before unraveling in the seventh.

“He was a good pitcher and threw hard,” Seiler said, “but we were starting to pick up his patterns as the game went along.”

In the end, it all paid off for Wayne. And back to the championship round they go.